Beta Gamma Sigma inducts 61 new members, honors two professors with Professor of the Year award

Elon University’s chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma inducted 61 members during a virtual ceremony on May 5.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the inductions were conducted online via WebEx.

Beta Gamma Sigma is the international honor society recognizing top-performing students at schools accredited by AACSB International. The organization’s mission is to encourage and honor academic achievement in the study of business, foster personal and professional experience to advance the values of the society, and to serve its lifelong members.

The inductees represent the top 10 percent of the junior and senior classes in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, as well as the top 20 percent of the graduating class in the MBA, M.S. in Management and M.S. in Accounting programs.

Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business and BGS chapter president, led the ceremony.

Chapter honoree Kevin Trapani, CEO and co-founder of The Redwoods Group, spoke to the inductees about the purpose of business, sharing his view that business must be a powerful force for positive social change. Believing that the sole purpose of business is to enrich shareholders and make a profit is incorrect, he explained.

“Great business leaders create great products and services – and great communities,” Trapani said.

Trapani discussed that when profit is the only goal, or the most important goal, unethical behavior happens. He advised students to be responsible leaders, who act ethically and do the right thing, and to lead from both the mind and the heart.

“Great leaders do the right thing because they have good values and, crucially, because they also did the hard work needed way in advance to be able to treat their people and their customers well,” Trapani said.

Trapani co-founded The Redwoods Group in 1997. Today, Redwoods, a certified B-corporation, is a social enterprise dedicated to insuring and protecting YMCAs, resident camps, Jewish Community Centers and Boys & Girls Clubs all over North America.

Trapani is the immediate past chair of United Way of the Greater Triangle (N.C.) and the board of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University. He is currently a member of the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.

During the ceremony, the chapter honored Adam Aiken, assistant professor of finance, and Brian Lyons, associate professor of management, with the 2020 Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year award. Members selected the professors because they encourage and honor high academic achievement by students of business; foster in students an enduring commitment to the founding principles and values of the society—honor and integrity, pursuit of wisdom, and earnestness; and support the advancement of business thought and practice to encourage lifelong learning.

Aiken received a doctorate in finance from Arizona State University. His research interests include financial institutions and performance measurement, with a particular focus on hedge funds. Before joining Elon in 2015, he taught at Quinnipiac University and worked for the UNC Management Company, the endowment arm of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lyons, advisor of Elon’s chapter of SHRM, has a doctorate in organizational studies from the University at Albany – State University of New York. His research interests involve recruitment, selection, counterproductive work and off-duty behavior, and leadership effectiveness. Before joining Elon in 2014, he taught at Wright State University and Fresno State University. Prior to entering academia, Lyons conducted HR-related research for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the American Institutes for Research.

2020 Inductees

Juniors

·      Jessica Anderson

·      Sara Armstrong

·      Jackie Baumann

·      Erin Cassidy

·      Nikki Cronin

·      Adam Dubowy

·      Brandon Goodman

·      Charlotte Greenspan

·      Andrew Harper

·      Stephen Hawthorne

·      Kylee Hebert

·      Jaqueline James

·      Kelly Leang

·      Meredith Mackenzie

·      Sophia Mancuso

·      Daria Marini

·      Lauren Maroney

·      Janie McCarthy

·      Stephen McCormack

·      Maura McNeil

·      Dana Miller

·      Olivia Mubarek

·      Erin Perkinson

·      Sophie Pollard

·      Brogan Quick

·      JW Simmons

·      Camden Spencer

·      Leah Traumuller

·      Alex Tudor

·      Anna Van Jura

·      Marley Vidmar

·      William Waggoner

Seniors

·      Victoria Baumgarten

·      Christina Beck

·      Kyle Bonner

·      Molly Chapin

·      Peyton Chur

·      Natalie Daniels

·      Becca Ellrich

·      Thomas Garcia-Meitin

·      Sydney Gruchot

·      Natalie Ivanov

·      Rob Lucas

·      Brandon Mack

·      Maris Mapp

·      Liz O’Brien

·      Carsten Johannes Raum

MBA

·      Leslie Baynes

·      Evan Dimke

·      Nina Guzman

·      Hayley Johnson

·      Jessica Kelly

·      Tyler Poole

·      Kate Scott

·      Ronald J. Smith

MSA

·      Ben Cook

Faculty

·      Adam Aiken

·      Susan Anderson

·      Shuji “Rosey” Bao

·      Carri Tolmie

·      Kate Upton

Beta Gamma Sigma vice president

·      Meghan Murray ’21

Outgoing Beta Gamma Sigma vice president

·      Noor Irshaidat ’20

Incoming Beta Gamma Sigma vice president

·      Meredith Mackenzie ’22

Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year recipients

·      2019 – Hani Tadros

·      2018 – Steven Bednar

·      2017 – Patty Cox

·      2016 – Steve DeLoach

·      2015 – Jen Platania

·      2014 – Irana Scott

·      2013 – Raj Gupta

·      2012 – Linda Poulson